xBishopx [workplace is a spirit killer]

Firstly, the question that I can not to ask. Why so long we had to wait for your new album?

Firstly, the question that I can not to ask. Why so long we had to wait for your new album? We kinda just got burnt out on being a band, each other, etc. We needed some time apart. Touring with the same 3 or 4 people for weeks at a time puts strains on relationships and we just needed time to breathe and do other things really.

You have a lot on the album extreme fragments with blasts and a large cargo of brutality. I think you hear a lot of metal/grind 🙂 Is it true? Have you ever been metalheads in the past? Which way you went into hardcore?

This is very true. Honestly, going into the writing process I said “listen guys, I want to go fast and I want to go slow. Keep the mid paced stuff to a minimum” and so we just went there. Sam Kooby and I are huge metal fans, but we also like the more metal side of hardcore as well. I started out as a metalhead growing up and got into hardcore by bands like Sick Of It All, One King Down, Morning Again, etc and ive listened to metal consistently since I was like 8. We have a lot of modern powerviolence bands as influences for sure though, which borrows a lot from metal obvious. I know Kooby listened to a lot of Coke Bust, Drop Dead and death metal when writing a lot of these songs.

How do you rate the condition of the american straight-edge scene? From your observations, whether is that more people is escaping from this lifestyle or enter into? Does not it seem to you that with the growing popularity of drugs and hedonistic attitudes, straight edge lifestyle may soon become a relic of the past?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. People who claim straight edge come and go. A catchy label isn’t going to stop someone from getting into some shit that they want to get into. I do wish people were more open minded, such as with marijuana and seeing the “war on drugs” for what it is: the institutional discrimination and incarceration of people of color. In my old age I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. Ive been straight edge since I was 13 and I’m like a million years old now, so that’s a long fucking time.

I really like the shape of your texts, which are short, blunt and of course, correct. They look also quite spontaneous. What conclusions would you like to give the listener by them?

Lyrically I try to talk about real issues that mostly go unaddressed in this genre in 2015, besides by a few awesome bands. I want people to read the lyrics and question every decision they’ve ever made in their lives and the decisions they will make in the future. There are so many aspects to life that people trudge through without thinking “why?”. Most people live inside a prison with invisible bars. You can go on vacation to a far away land, but in a week you’ll be back in that prison. The things we believe to be true are set up in such a way to create an obedient and unquestioning society. Racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, etc doesn’t exist in nature. Society creates all of those things and counts on them to keep elites in power and the rest subservient.

„From The Womb To The Tom” tells the story how the average person give up to the influence of consumerism, advertising pressure, generally you are talking here about mindless „momentum sheep”. How do you evaluate lack of reflection on these issues in American society?

From the Womb is about growing up and having ideals forced onto you. In my inspiration it was American diets, mainly the meat and dairy industry. This is taught to kids at a young age as to create lifetime consumers. No one will question why they eat hamburgers and pizza if everyone else is doing it and its deemed as “normal”. In this day and age however, by saying you DON’T eat animal products it’s a whole fucking to-do and a barrage of questions, which is viewed as “weird”. The same principal can be applied to religion as well.

It is no secret that for influential people, authorities or corporations favorable state of things is to have people less educated, less informed, because it means less prone to rebel against them. What is the reason why that a lot of people to the full enjoyment of life hamburger, TV and beer is enough, in your opinion ? Is this due to laziness, need peace and quiet, the lack of alternatives or something else?

I think the workplace is a spirit killer. By the time you get home from your job where you’re exploited and overworked you’re so exhausted all people want to do is drink a beer and watch trash tv to compare your shitty life to those on the tv to lessen the blow of capitalism. People are also uncreative because there are so many lazy options such as ipads, Netflix, tvs, etc. none of these things require brainpower. When I get home I’m trying to play guitar or read, or spend time with my dogs and ferrets. Don’t get me wrong, I love the occasional veg out time, but you gotta keep moving with as little distractions as possible.

„The Great Mistake” is a reflection on the vanity of the human species and the direction in which it is going. Which of our features and tendencies do you think are our greatest curse? On the other hand, the development of which human features would be a direction to make the Earth a better place?

Overpopulation is definitely a problem. This is proven when you get on a highway at 8am or 5pm. There are too many people sucking up too many resources. The more people exist on the earth the bigger the wage gap becomes. This isn’t an accident. Conservatives do what they can to push anti-gay and anti-abortion agendas because they understand the value of having 100 people competing for 50 jobs, driving wages down.

In „Only Dirt Awaits You,” you focus on the issue of religion, Which is subjected in this song is a devastating criticism. Have you ever wondered on the topics of religion, but not from the point of view of obvious lies, dirty tricks, indoctrination, etc., but more of prospects attempting to explain our purpose and place in the cosmos? Do not you think that religions in general have arisen as a result of finding answers that questions of this kind? There are sometimes scientific intriguing things about spirituality and metaphysical matters too, which is sometimes hard to break away from religious concepts.

Monotheistic religion is detrimental to society. They set up society in a way that justifies sexism, homophobia, etc to create the perfect utopia for the people whos interests it best fit. The bible has been translated so many times and (the new testament) was written 40+ years AFTER jesus supposedly died. This is a flawed method of accounting. That’s after you get passed the fact that they stole their religion from Judaism and countless ancient religions. Furthermore, Christianity demonized Judaism because they wanted to be “the new chosen people”. People think they are so special to have a central being looking out for them. That’s a selfish notion. People cant accept that this quite possibly was a huge accident. Evolution is real. People cant exist without nature. Nature can surely exist without people. If societies were to actually build itself with a sustainable plan without exploiting animals, people and land, the potential is immeasurable. However, greed gets in the way and there’s money to be made.

Are there any concrete poetry of hardcore bands that had most influenced you as a person?

Bands that have big politics always spoke to me more than others. Morning Again, One King Down, Turmoil, Earth Crisis, Culture, etc were my favorite bands. Those bands had the biggest impact because they introduced me to concepts that aren’t really talked about, or at least they weren’t at the time. Its pivotal to criticize detrimental institutions. Most people don’t question things, these bands made me question all the things.

United States increasingly liberal approach to the topic of using marijuana. Do you think (as a sober sxe), for example, that the medical use of this substance is different from taking chemical drugs legally available in the pharmacy? Do drugs that can help are still drugs?

Liberals want to get high and conservatives want to keep everyone from getting high. Alcohol and tobacco companies lobby against the legalization of marijuana because that would hit their businesses hard. Cigarettes and alcohol are far more dangerous than weed will ever be. It’s a very backwards society. Medicine and drug abuse I believe is different.

Do you think that if you had not entered into hardcore, you would treat life as much consciously? Does not it seem to you that a message which its generates, which tells to pay attention to a much greater range of things, to be more critical… So generally forces you to higher thinking?

Me and my dude just talked about this. He was visiting his girlfriend’s college class and noticed how fucking stupid everyone was. I feel the same way in my classes. Its like these very molded generic minds that have very basic cookie cutter views and values. I believe hardcore opens peoples minds to a different way of thinking for sure. I wouldn’t be who I am today if I never stumbled into that H2O, Shai Hulud, Murphy’s Law gig in 94. Hardcore definitely gives an edge over people who aren’t exposed to a heightened awareness.

On the other hand, did you meet people who at first glance act in accordance with the whole scheme and ethics hardcore scene, but they have so narrow minds, that really does not fit in here? Because I do not believe that you does not meet the assholes who are, for example, straight edge or vegan 🙂.

Honestly, no. when I first started going to shows I never really encountered that. Maybe because I was straight edge nearly from the get go. I wasn’t vegetarian or vegan till I was 19 or so. There are always those assholes everywhere, now they’re mostly “industry” people and new jack know-it-alls.

 Thanks for the interview. At the end tell me whether in America people think that the fish is not a meat? In Poland it is everyday haha.

Yes! Fish don’t grow on trees. And it has fucking eyes. And breathes. And everyone is stupid. Poland is awesome though. THIS IS FUCKING WARSAW! SO FUN!
Thanks!